Warmer tonight, you say? With today’s 6 p.m. start time, the weather will not play as much of a factor as it did in last night’s 6-5 Phillies victory. The frigid temps seemed to play a small role in J.A. Happ’s sub-par outing, although some will say he was squeezed by home plate umpire Jerry Meals.

Game 4 will have Cliff Lee take the hill against Ubaldo Jimenez, in a mirror image of Game 1. Lee was outstanding, going the distance in that opening win, while allowing just a lone run in the 9th inning. The Phillies will need a similar performance in tonight’s game as the bullpen is somewhat depleted. Charlie Manuel had to use five relievers, including Joe Blanton again, after Happ lasted just three innings. Scott Eyre suffered a leg injury while fielding a grounder and is uncertain for this evening. So all eyes are once again on Lee to bring forth a spectacular outing.

Ubaldo Jimenez was pesky through four innings in Game 1, but ran out of gas in the fifth inning. In that 5-1 victory, every Phillie had a hit, including Lee, and Jimenez was bounced in the sixth after allowing five runs. The Phillies now know the opponent well, and with the bats starting to heat up once again, let’s hope we’re in for some fireworks in this possible closeout game.

Chase Utley finally gave the Phillies some pop, going 3-for-4 with a home run yesterday, er, early this morning). However, Jimmy Rollins is basically MIA at the top of the order. He did have a big ninth inning hit, but has looked lost for the most part at the dish. Look for a J-Roll turnaround.

Your Gameday Beer – Coors Original
In the spirit of this chilly, mile-high series, sip on a can of original Coors as you witness the Phillies dominating in Game 4. The “Banquet Beer” as it’s known is 5% ABV and is the oldest of the Coors beers. Buy a six pack and eat some steak and potatoes with it, and be sure to dispose of the cans by stepping on them, just as the Phils will do to the Rockies tonight. – By Pat

I’m rooting for my old teammates and hope to see them in the World Series. I would like to grab that Howard Eskin by his dyed beard and rub his nose in doggie pooh. He is nothing but a big mouthed FOP. I miss my Phillies fans and hope you guys enjoy victory tonight.

That fat bioetch Howard was OUT…another bad call again…this time Phillies way…Howard only runs fast when the Domino’s guy is at the door……oh well we’re just waiting to see what “jump off a Cliff Lee” does later….

Insanely bad play by play guys is what your missing. Lee always tries to pump in the strikes early and the first two Rockies just jumped on him but he doesn’t look any different than game 1 and he hasn’t thrown anywhere near as many pitches as Jiminez.

Bottom of the first: J Roll! He had a little bit of luck and lot of skill on that throw from Lee on the little grounder. Chooch could have easily had Helton with a good throw there, but I’ll cut him some slack because he’s Chooch and he’s the man. Clutch strikeout pitch with the cut fastball on Tulowitzky. Lee was not sharp but does a great and scrappy job of getting out of it with no runs. Ruben Amaro, thanks for that trade.

I can’t believe these announcers. Did TBS give us the other team’s home announcers for the second NLDS in a row?

Hello Rockies, we’d like to reintroduce you to Cliff Lee. That guy in tonight’s second inning was the guy from Game 1. So-so first inning, vintage Lee inning in second. Hitting his spots, keeping the hitters off balance. Here we go…

Top 3: Damn, we let Jimenez off the hook there. Phils have swung at a lot of bad pitches, but he’s up to 65 pitches through 3 IP, so we will be into that bullpen soon. But we need a big hit, folks. That RISP is starting to drop.

J Reed, YES, Chooch made that throw and he would have had Helton out easily if he makes an accurate throw. But you’re right. Ordinarily, that’s a risky throw by a catcher.

These Rockie fans have no class. They just razzed JWerth after he fouled a ball off his leg and went down in pain. Sheesh.

Finally, J-Roll, please look at some pitches. Jimmy looked at 7-8 pitches first time up. This time. One pitch and weak grounder. Not good, man. Come on. But he is playing great D this series.

TOP 4: Again, Feliz swinging at the first pitch. Come on guys! WIth this pitch count going up, we’ve got to look at some pitches. Dude keeps throwing balls in the dirt. “Rockies” announcer said it was a “perfect” start to the inning.

JeffK, I think Lee IS more careful with the location of his first pitches tonigh, especially after the first two batters of this game singled off him. But right now, fellow Phillie fans, Cliff Lee is pitching like Cliff Lee. Nice 1-2-3 inning. Lee has thrown 64 pitches through 4 innings. Not bad, not great. Probably not going to get a CG. Madson and Lidge, we may need you tonight. But I would rather see our team score a bunch of runs . . .

Jimenez: HUGE mistake there. He made Werth look like poop on a curve. Thanks for the 97 MPH fastball, Ubaldo. Jayson made that hurt, yeah. We like fastballs. Keep throwing fastballs down the middle, please.

Sorry but Feliz better not be back next year. Two games in a row he blows it with the bases loaded. It’s one thing to work a count and try and do something but two days in a row and he blows it like he did…swinging at the first pitch are you kidding?

That was totally Ryan Madson there, the pitch wasn’t inside to Giambi and caught a massive chunk of the plate and the one to Torrealba just sat up there where anyone with any kind of swing could extend on…

I dont understand when lee is pitching fine. he let up a ground ball that shouldve ended the inning but jroll blew it. so we take him out? and then put in madson? i dont understand. this is why were losing games. look back on a lot of our losses. bad decisions of pitching changes have caused a lot of them.

You know, I am so very sick and tired of the nonsense around here. The regulars are worse than the trolls. Same crap that drove me away on 9/27, saying that the Phils wouldn’t win the division, that they would lose all their remaining games and Atlanta would win all of theirs. I don’t know why I bothered coming back here.

you know what? im done on here. im a loser living in my mothers basement in staten island. thats right im a mets fan just angry how my team sucks and chokes each year. and the rockies suck, i dont even like them, or myself…

So I think that all of the posters an inning ago saying that the Phillies would lose the series, they lost the momentum, are done with this team, etc. etc. should be banned from posting come gameday, for their lack of faith!!!!

i agree tools of ignorance…this team has come back all year but not only were people bailing on the game after the rockies took the lead they bailed on the series.
Craig it was nice having you as a guest, have a nice offseason

jt Says:
October 12th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
howard?he’s due,but he won’t come through in the clutch.

when a problem comes along
you must suck it
before the cream sits out too long
you must suck it
when something’s going wrong
you must suck it
now suck it
into shape
shape it up
get straight
go forward
move ahead
try to detect it
it’s not too late
to suck it
suck it good

Craig the Rockies Fan Says:
October 12th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
OHHHHHHHHHHH BABBBBBBBY. Thank you Jroll for bad d. Thank you Madson for being horrible. Thank you Feliz for not being clutch. Going back to Philly. Hamels. thats what I want. YEA.

what an amazing series, i can’t believe it. How can the only series in the division series that I care about be so dramatic and all the other series suck. I had a freaking heart attack watching the phils and I fell asleep watching all the others, stupid cardinals, red sox, and twins. The only that was good put me on pins and needles.

Tracey I totally effin agree with you! I’ve sat back for a month and read all the cry babies and bad talker! greatest comeback in baseball history for one game and this team is for real! I’m excited and lovin it

ray Says:
October 12th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Craig the Rockies Fan Says:
October 12th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
OHHHHHHHHHHH BABBBBBBBY. Thank you Jroll for bad d. Thank you Madson for being horrible. Thank you Feliz for not being clutch. Going back to Philly. Hamels. thats what I want. YEA.

This is fantastic; I got so tired of listening to the Colorado fans cheer or boo on every pitch in this game that I turned the volume on the TV off not to mention those monkeys jumping around behind home plate all night.

It’s amazing that the announcers were saying how the fielders are practially at the warning track when howard has his last at bat and he still managed to get it over their heads. I hope I get to hear our radio announcers make those last calls

When Madson coughed up the lead in the 8th, I let my superstitions rule my behavior. So I muted Philliesnation by closing my laptop, muted the TBS audio and, oddly, grabbed the nearest cap (76ers) I could find. So, with the sound off and the cap of Iguodala and Elton Brand on my hand, I joined all you guys in watching the most amazing postseason Phillies comeback of all time. Rollins, Utley, Howard, Werth, Eyre, Lidge–how CLUTCH were these guys?! Wow.

How can you not like us against the Dodgers? LA had it oddly easy against the Cards, but hell is about to reign down upon them. Hollywood Hamels in Game 1, Blanton in Game 2, Lee in Game 3. I like the way this is shaping up, sports fans.

OK, here’s my theory. The Phils were pissed they were swept in 3 games in 2007 so, to pay back the Rockies fans, they lost one game in Philly, then allow the Rockies to take the lead in the 8th inning to make it seem like the Rockies might be able to pull it off. Then, they waited until they had 2 outs in the 9th and BAM, how you like the sweep now?

All you people that gave up or turned the TV off when we lost the lead are complete morons. It doesn’t matter how far we are down or what inning it is, we always seem to fight our way back in and at least make the game interesting. I know Feliz is frustrating sometimes but he’s not the only one that didnt hit with the bases loaded. During the regular season he had the best avg with RISP on the team. He had some clutch hits for us the past two years, especially the one that knocked in the WINNING run in game 5 of the World Series last year. Seriously would you rather have at 3rd, David Bell, Abraham Nunez or Pedro? I know I would want Pedro. Other than Scott Rolen, He’s the best 3rd basemen we had since Mike Schmidt

I work with these dogs and as far as animal behavior goes, I am a strong believer in nurture and training. I’ve met Jack Russell Terriers that I wouldn’t go around again, but have for no reason had a poor knowledge with an American Staffordshire Terrier. If you’re speaking about their owners- nicely, that’s a several story. Humans are animals as well, and we tend to every have our unique ideas about “moral concepts”.